A New Friend
by K.C3
Summary: Kes is abducted to a prison ship where she meets a new friend (Plz R&R)
1. Intruder Alert

"There's a ship approaching at high warp Captain," Ensign Harry Kim informed Captain Janeway.  
  
"On screen." The captain didn't know why she bothered anymore, before she had got the words out Harry had already transferred the picture to the view screen.  
  
"Their ship is not one we've encountered before, but their weapons are powered." Came Tuvok's dry voice from his post at tactical/security.  
  
"Hail them."  
  
"They're responding." Ensign Kim told the Captain.  
  
"On screen." She responded without really thinking. Almost as soon as Janeway gave the command her view screen was filled with a very unpleasant image. The man was green with silver swirls on his skin. He wore dark blue robes with a shoulder strap across this chest that held 4 daggers. "Hello, my name is Captain-"  
  
"I know who you are, Alpha Quadranter, you are trespassing on Baron 4 trade route."  
  
"I'm sorry, we didn't know this was anyone's property, but since you know so much about us, then maybe we could negotiate---"  
  
"No trades, you've trespassed on our property and payment is demanded, prepare to be boarded." Before Janeway could say anything else the screen went blank.  
  
"Raise shields, red alert." Janeway commanded.  
  
"Two life forms have just transported from the alien ship to Voyager."  
  
"What?" Janeway turned to look at her security chief a moment before giving her next order, "Send security teams to wherever they beamed to and put force fields around any key systems that they're near."  
  
"Security to deck 8." Tuvok said before entering the turbolift.  
  
This is gonna be a heck of a day. Janeway thought to herself. 


	2. Abducted

Kes was working on a flower arrangement by her bed when she heard the door to her quarters open.  
  
"Hello?" Kes walked out to investigate and saw a man moving swiftly toward her.  
  
She knew right away it was an intruder because almost the same instant the red alert flashing lights came on. Kes tapped her commbadge, "Kes to bridge intruder-"  
  
"Quiet!" The man grabbed her commbadge and threw it down before taking Kes' arm and dragging her into the corridor.  
  
"Let me go!!" She screamed and tried to wiggle away, but it was no use, the man was too strong.  
  
That was when Kes heard running down the corridor and Tuvok and his security team came around the bend. As soon as she saw them, Kes felt a sharp object pressing against her neck. He had drawn one of his knives and was now holding it against Kes. "Don't come any closer or I'll kill her." The man said quite calmly.  
  
"Release Kes." Tuvok said. Without another word the man and Kes was gone.  
  
"Tuvok to bridge, one of the lifeforms has abducted Kes, I haven't seen any signs of the other."  
  
"Kes?" Came Janeway's shocked reply. Then she returned to her senses, "Both lifeforms beamed back to their ship a few seconds ago and now the ship is powering engines, we're following them." 


	3. 20A

The first thing Kes noticed when the transport was complete was the smell of blood. "Where are you taking me?" She demanded.  
  
"Shut up." The man just kept dragging her along a row of doors.  
  
Another man with green skin and dark blue robes passed them, "Where'd you get her?"  
  
Her captor stopped a moment, "From the Alpha Quadrant vessel."  
  
"Well she's quite a beauty." The man rubbed the back of his hand against Kes' cheek; it felt dry and crusty, she jerked away.  
  
"Quite alive too, master will like her."  
  
"Which cell is open?" Her captor asked, as Kes still tried to squirm away.  
  
The man seemed to think a moment then replied, "20-A I think."  
  
Her captor seemed amused by this, "Yea, a super soldier and an Ocampan, what a pair."  
  
The other man chuckled and walked off as Kes and her captor made their way to cell 20-A. 


	4. Human

Voyager had been following the ship that had abducted Kes for an hour until Paris informed the Captain, "Captain, the ship has gone to warp 9.95, we can't match it." Janeway hit her fist on her chair, keep following them at maximum warp." "Aye Captain."  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
Her captor stopped at a door clearly marked 20-A and punched a code in on a keypad, the door opened and her captor threw her in. Kes didn't have time to get her footing so she landed on the floor.  
  
Before she turned over and got up she heard the door to the cell closing. Kes took a breath to think what she should do when she heard movement in the room. Kes turned her head to see a small form balled up in the corner farthest away from Kes.  
  
"Hey, I won't hurt you." Kes got up slowly and made a step to the form, but stopped when she saw that the body just drawed itself up tighter when Kes made that move.  
  
"I'm Kes, who are you." Kes moved another step toward the form.  
  
That was when she got close enough to see that it was a girl, not more than 11. Kes' heart went out for the girl when she saw that she had lash marks all over her back and arms, and a deep cut on her side.  
  
"Don't be scared, I promise I won't hurt you." The girl looked to Kes a moment; the girls' black eyes seemed to go right through her. Then to Kes' relief the girl seemed to relax just a little bit. Kes got another two steps in and kneeled beside her.  
  
"It's alright, what's your name?" The girl looked to Kes another moment then licked her lips and answered in a very dry, cracked voice,  
  
"You're Ocampan?" Kes was stunned that the girl would know anything about Ocampans, but decided that at least the girl talked.  
  
"Yes I am." Kes went from kneeling to sitting by the girl and was glad to see that the girl didn't flinch when she did.  
  
"What species are you?" Kes asked softly.  
  
The girl looked to Kes again before answering; "I'm not." This raised a question in Kes' brain, "You're not what?"  
  
"I'm not," The girl answered, "just one species, I have bits of almost 20 different species in me." This puzzled Kes, she had never known anyone to be crossbred with more than 2 species.  
  
"How is that possible?" Kes asked. "I'm a supersoldeier, the scientist who made me used species with one strong background for that part of me then another species for another." The girl answered.  
  
"Made you?" Kes was still puzzled.  
  
"Let me restate that, he made me the super soldier I am today, I was originally a single species." The girl clarified.  
  
"And what species would that be?" Kes asked.  
  
"You wouldn't know who they are, they're not even from this quadrant." The girl informed her.  
  
"Try me." Kes answered. "I was originally Human." 


	5. Supersoldier

"Human?" Kes thought she didn't understand the girl right. "I told you that you wouldn't know who they are." "No, I do." Kes answered. "How?" The girl asked curiously. "It's a long story but I was rescued by a ship of humans that had got transported to this quadrant by mistake, they're now trying to find their way back." Kes explained. "That's how you got to the surface, I was wondering about that." "Wait, how did you know that we lived under the surface?" The girl's face got very sad, "These ships once went to your homeworld maybe a year ago and took about 40 Ocampa, that's how I learned that I'm also part Ocampa." The girl turned her head around so that Kes could see ears that looked almost like her own. Kes was stunned, "Where do these ships go?" She asked. "You've probably already figured out that these are prison ships, but they go to different slave worlds and auction the prisoners they capture off." The girl said. "How awful, but you sound like you know a lot about this, why?" To Kes this was beginning to remind her of being a slave of the Kazon. The girl smiled at this question, "I have a major reputation along this ship and most slave worlds, I've been sold nine different times but I've killed my master each time, so no one wants me. Besides the life of just dying slowly in this room is much better than having to become a slave." Either choice sounded gruesome, Kes thought to herself but just kept asking questions; "If you're a super soldier why are you on this little slave ship?" "I was the property of the scientist who went to Earth originally and took me, I was with him almost 5 years, he had almost perfected me he said, then he crossed paths with this ship, they told him payment was expected, it was only he and I on the ship so he had no choice but to let me go." "That's so sad." Kes said, "I was a slave of the Kazon for a month after escaping my underground homeworld, in that short time I forgot almost all the good parts of home, I can't imagine being a slave and lab experiment for so long." At that point the cell door opened and in came 3 guards, one holding a needle-like thing. One swiftly went over to Kes and held her, and the other went over to the girl and held her. Kes tried to wrestle out of the man's grip until she heard a voice in her head, It's alright, don't resist. Kes looked over at the girl who the other guard was sticking a needle in her arm, injecting something, then he came to Kes, she stopped fighting and let the man poke the thing in her arm, it hurt just a little but not much. Then all three guards were gone. "What was that?" Kes asked as she rubbed the arm where they had injected her. "Nutrients, some prisoners would rather starve themselves so they just inject it to us directly." Kes looked to the girl a moment, she was about to turn her gaze when she noticed that the girl's eyes were getting foggy. "What's wrong?" She asked. But in answer the girl's body began to shake violently. 


	6. Pain and Suffering

The girl awoke to a warm feeling, not at all like the cold stone of the cell floor, then she opened her eyes and looked up to see that she was in the girl known as Kes' arms. As soon as she recognized this she bolted up, waking Kes up with start as well. As soon as the girl saw what she had done she ran to a corner and cowered.  
  
"Hey, it's alright." Kes said calmly as she got up. But in response the girl just huddled up tighter, protecting her deep cut along her side.  
  
"It's OK." Kes continued.  
  
"What's wrong?" Kes studied the girl and slowly tried to inch toward her but the girl just kept getting in a tighter ball.  
  
"Do you think I'm going to hurt you? For you waking me up?" Kes understood now, this girl had lived all her life in fear and shame, it was sad to see someone like this, but even sadder to think that she could've been that person if Neelix hadn't rescued her.  
  
"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you." Kes tried to use her words to calm the girl so she could edge toward her.  
  
Finally she got within range and kneeled beside her, the girl buried her head under her hands.  
  
Kes stroked her scarry arm and said, "What happened to you earlier? When you started having spasms."  
  
The girl looked up slowly, not totally convinced that Kes wasn't going to do anything to her then said; "When they inject me with nutrients they also mix in some kind of poison that keeps my super soldier powers in check. I also have to go to some kind of energy draining place every now and then to keep me from having full control over my abilities."  
  
"That's horrible." Kes said, but then got an unexpected reply from the girl, She lunged at Kes and hugged her tightly as tears dripped from her eyes onto Kes' clothes, but she didn't mind.  
  
Kes tried to calm her as much as possible; letting the girl hug her for as long as she liked as Kes stroked her back gently.  
  
Then a guard came in; "Come on you two, we've arrived on Salaus IV, time for the slave auctions."  
  
The guard seemed almost cheery about it as he ushered Kes and the super soldier out into the corridor. 


	7. Auction

"Captain, We've just picked up a planet on long range sensors; the ship that took Kes is in low orbit of it." Ensign Kim informed the captain. Janeway was starting to wonder if they'd ever find that ship again, "Drop out of warp Mr. Paris." "Aye Captain," came his almost eager reply. "Mr. Kim, scan the ship for Kes' lifesigns." Janeway told him, holding her breath until she got an answer.  
  
* * *  
  
Kes and the super soldier were scurried along the corridor until reaching a door that the guard had to punch in a code to get into. There was a large stage with dozens of people below, all looking at the stage. Along the edges of the large stage were several metal cages, prisoners occupied those. Kes was put in the middle of the stage while the super soldier was put in one of the cages.  
  
Someone stepped up right in front of where Kes was on the stage and said, "She's nice, I'll give 30 onslaughts for her!"  
  
Another buyer stepped up, "Make that 75 onslaughts!"  
  
Soon the auction was off, as with each bidder's yell of price Kes got more and more afraid.  
  
"Sold, 115 onslaughts for the Ocampan!"  
  
Kes bit her lip and was roughly carried off the stage, while going down the steps she heard screaming,  
  
"No! I'm not going to let her get killed by him!"  
  
Kes looked back to see the super soldier bending the bars of the cell, and crawling out.  
  
Kes began to fight the man's grasp that held her, another guard came to help hold her, but what they should've been worried about was the super soldier.  
  
Several guards tried to catch her, but no such luck, the girl made one flying leap over several guards' heads and grabbed the guards' necks the held Kes.  
  
  
  
* * *  
  
"Captain, I'm reading two Ocampan signatures?"  
  
"What?" Captain Janeway rose from her chair and came to stand by Harry.  
  
"I can't explain it Captain, but there are two Ocampan lifesigns on that ship, one of the signatures is weak though."  
  
"Captain, the ship has seen us and is powering weapons."  
  
"Raise shields."  
  
There was a huge jolt and everyone was thrown to the ground.  
  
Chakotay informed her, "Their weapons are cutting right through the shields."  
  
"Harry, there's no time, beam both lifesigns to sickbay, have a security team get down there." 


	8. Back Home

Kes went from fighting a guard of some sort to lying on a biobed. At first she thought this was a dream then she felt a bad wound where she had been cut. Kes sat up slowly to look at the surgical bay where the Doctor and her newfound friend were.  
  
'Kes," Kes swished her head around to see Captain Janeway coming through the sickbay doors.  
  
"Captain," Kes smiled a little as Janeway swept her up into a tight embrace.  
  
"Kes, are you alright?" Janeway ran her fingers over a cut on her forearm.  
  
"I'll be ok Captain." Kes pushed herself off the biobed and walked over to where the Doctor was busily performing surgery on the supersoldier.  
  
"What's wrong with her, Doctor" Kes asked as she looked at a few scans of the girls' body.  
  
"She has massive internal injuries and severe loss of blood." Came the Doctor's dry reply as he still busily moved around scanning here and there.  
  
"Can I help?" Kes asked, with worry for her friend.  
  
"The biggest help I can have you do is sit on a biobed and wait until I get her stabilized."  
  
"Kes, what happened? Who is that?" Janeway motioned to the surgical bay.  
  
"It's a long story Captain, but she's a friend."  
  
Just then the ship shook violently and the red-alert lights came on.  
  
Janeway tapped her comm-badge, "Janeway to bridge, what just happened?"  
  
"The ship who took Kes is firing at us." Came Chakotay's answer.  
  
"Get us out of here, maximum warp." Janeway told the Commander then cut off the link.  
  
Then came several beeps from the surgical bay, Kes recognized them immediately as the patient's lifesigns were in danger.  
  
"Doctor?"  
  
"There's something wrong with her physiology, a toxin has appeared in her bloodstream; it's attempting to go into all of her muscles and is.mutating? This is odd, as the toxin is mixing with the bloodstream the damaged areas of her body, both internal and external, have begun to repair themselves."  
  
Kes halfway muttered, "The supersoldier part of her, the suppression must've wore off."  
  
Janeway raised an eyebrow, "What? What suppression?"  
  
Kes completely ignored her, "Doctor, let the toxin stay and enhance it if you can, her cells will heal themselves if you do."  
  
"I'll let it stay but I don't believe I can enhance it." The Doctor told her as he still scanned the girl to watch the unknown toxin to make sure it didn't harm her.  
  
"I believe she's out of the woods for now." The Doctor speculated then went over to where Kes sat and started doing scans. 


End file.
